Did you know: the value of an adviser at claim time

We ask financial advisers Mike Ashton and Natasha Fraser for their top tip for insurance customers. Ashton Brokers Ltd is a family-owned business with over 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry. Based in Hamilton, they are there to assist with insurance requirements for new and existing clients in the Waikato region and throughout New Zealand.

As an insurance customer you may think the role of a financial adviser is to help you find the right insurance for you. But did you know that some financial advisers help take away the burden at claim time too?

Claims require evidence to be provided, which can sometimes be quite technical. Paperwork isn’t fun at the best of times, but when a family is dealing with serious illness or bereavement, it’s good to have professional support.

Here at Ashton Brokers Limited we’ve had the privilege of being able to help with a number of terminal illness and trauma claims. When I see insurance do what it’s supposed to at the toughest moments of a customer’s life, it really does put into perspective the importance of the job we do to ensure our clients have cover and support in such untimely events.

One of the claims I’ll always remember was a 52 year old man with severe prostate cancer. This client had debated sometime prior to diagnosis whether he needed to continue his trauma cover but after discussing the importance of protecting his financial needs he agreed he needed to keep it.

After the client told us that he would need to have his prostate removed, and that he would have to wait up to three months to be admitted in the public system, we discussed getting a second opinion from a private urologist.

We arranged with the Fidelity Life claims department to begin his claim and spoke with one of the top New Zealand urologists to discuss options and contact our client.

The claim was approved and the money was paid to the client in less than two weeks.

Since the client had trauma cover, he got a lump sum payment that allowed him to get faster treatment and private care. Fidelity Life’s trauma insurance pays you a one-off lump sum if you suffer a medical condition specified in your policy (like cancer, heart attack or stroke). There are no restrictions on how you can use the money, so some clients use it for healthcare costs, while others use it to allow time off work. Having the funds readily available meant our client was able to be treated by a private specialist in a private hospital.

We stayed in touch with the client and the urologist, and were delighted to hear of the client’s full recovery after successful treatment and surgery.

Our client is now a vocal advocate for the importance of insurance cover and the support an adviser can provide!

Photo: Natasha, Mike, Cheryl and Renee from Ashton Brokers Ltd, where Mike received a Kepa Silver Production Award for the year 2014–2015.